Any tips for a new BP owner?

[Kyle@theHeathertoft]

First, congrats on your new pet!!!!! Balls rock, I adore them.

When I first put her in there, she explored the entire enclosure for quite awhile. Yesterday she stayed in one of her hides most of the day, coming out every once in awhile to drink, roam the cage for a little while, and sometimes lay her head on a rock for a short period of time. She wasn't too active last night, but tonight she is roaming all around the enclosure and laying on top of one of her hides.

That's good, IMO. My happiest, healthiest snakes are the ones I almost never see outside of their hides...they're in one or the other. Remember that in the wild they lie in wait for prey in rodent burrows and things, so...hiding is kindof their thang.

2. Today was a really hot day, so I didn't really NEED the lamp on the warm side of the tank to maintain the temperature there. But the light in my room isn't very bright, leaving the tank pretty dark. Almost everything I've read has said they should have 12 hours of day and 12 of night, so I was afraid the lack of light would screw up that cycle. Is that a valid concern? I ended up finding a 25 watt bulb to use so the temperature wouldn't get too high but it would still provide light.

Ech, my snakes deal with relatively dim (by sunlight standards) day cycles. They all seem fine with it. So long as it's brighter in daytime than at night they SHOULD be ok.